New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
o11.prFr or NOVELS.


HIS HELPMArE. BY FRANK BARRETT. i@m'' pp N'''
D. Appleton Co. ,,.
TIE BAG OF DIAMONDS. BY GEORGE MANvILLE FEM
12mo PIP 1873. D. Appleton 20.
THE ROMANCE OF THE CANONEsa BY PAUL
H.YsE; Translated b j. M. PEScivAl- 'Zm0' PIP
rur pIIND nROTHER: Astory Of the Pennsylvania
Coal Mines BY HOMER GREENE l2mo pp' SI''
Thomas Y Crowell Co.
"Ilis Helpmate" Is far more sober story tnan
"The Great Hesper," and it is better art, depend
Ing for interest upon the interaction OF clearly
drawn characters rather than upon exciting and
improbable action. The lazy artist and his three
pleasant daughters, the orchestra leader, who
serves as chorus and narrator, the self-made'
energetic, plausible rogue Motley, with his panS
and brewery his affected generosity and reai
rascality, are all firmly drawn and consistently
developed Harowe, the partner OF Motley VIZ"
is robbed and reduced to penury oy one i"o'i'
Is rather n fine fellow As to Madge, VINO u'hee
so kindly to fashionable lie ana 1e "'
extravaganza after marrying Hariowe' ~ me-
be said that her prompt and easy "oap'""oA "
Tho ,ss ~ Poverty into which she is subsequently
thrown by Motley's robbery CT the phhH 70
rather unnatural and forced. Ii is questioh"oio
whether such a young woman could have Iouno
content, not 70 say happiness, In the cohoi0oh
of a day laborers wife. Love VIII 40 mucn,
Certainly, and misfortune sometimes rcunes and
strengthens those VINO suheI ~ Inv
of tbe doubt is of course the right Of the novelist
in such case, and accord 1T to Mr. DarreCo'
who ON the whole hss done his story telling well.
THE Bag of Diamonds" is the kind OF mover
upon which some modern paywrights are iona
If constructing the blood-curdling melodramas
advertised by huge po, tcrs exhibiting sensational
scenes 1t is full of mysteries and crimes, knock
ing of people on the head, drugelng OF otners'
dsa. p,aranccs of others. The regular stage VII
lain Is not wanting, or the v'rtuous glfi upon
whom lie practises or the long absent youth VINO
returns from the Cape Of Good Hope with
pocket full Of diamonds in time to foil the villain
but first loses his treasure and has complicated
adventures while seeking it. or course the Dag
of diamonds is ultimately recovered, owing chiehy
to the intervention of ganlin who has Deen
lifted bodily out of Dickens. Mr.. Fem AFFECTS
the worst mannerisms of that author, and carries
them even beyond the verge OF the grotcsqne
All that can be said for his latest novel is that
il contains some rather original situations, out
it is inartistic, rudcly sensational, and only 10
be tolerated for summer reading.
Paul Heyscs "Story of the Canoness"is of
much higher order of work 1t is simple, fuli
of graceful and tender imagination romantic in
the hest sense, and thoroughly wholesome 1t is
in the main a narrative of hopeless but pure and
noble love. The "Canoness" is young woman
who lecomcs infatuated with q talented but
unprinciplcd actor, and marries him. The Can
didate" tells the story. He loved the Canoness,
and gave up all his hopes of ecclesiastical pre-
ferment to be near AMI protect her when he
saw that her husband had taken TO drink. The
story is melancholy one. All his life the
simple-hearted Candidate" watches over the
woman he loves and only when on her deathbed
does she confess that she has refrigerated his
Affect n. 1t is tharmingly written and excellcntly
translated.
Mr.. Homer Greene has written pretty and
pathetic tale Of blind boy who worked in
Pennsylvania mine, and his brother, stout
hearted and well-disciplined little fellow, who
became accidentally witness to one of the crimes
Of the Molhe Maguires, and has subsequently
severe struggle between duty and bribery. Not
much is told about the working Of the mines
or the lives of the miners though the opportunity
was good one for some realistic pictures OF q
state of things far too little known. The talk Of
the miners, however, is naturally rendered, and
the story is not wanting in veor and interest.
The volume is filled out with short tale called
Dick the Door-Boy," also mining incident, but
a little too much in the line of Sunday school
literature